Francoidhamilton

Hullo board!

I will be a first year aerospace engineering student next year and I need to find a laptop...soon. N money is no problem, so think of the best notebook you know. So here is my description of my dream notebook:

4 GB RAM (i want it to be fast as hell)
Windows based (can't be a mac)
large hard drive
roughly 15 inch screen
dvd burner (blu-ray would be even better)
not so heavy that I can't carry it from class to class (I can live with 7 or 8 lbs, but not 12 lbs like some gaming rigs i've seen)

it doesn't have to come with all this stuff in it, I know I can customize it. I was already looking at some gaming laptops because they would have the power and performance I need in a computer. I don't really like alienware notebooks though, because the alien on the outside just turns me off.

I have already looked at the Dell xps M1530. Does anyone know anything about this computer?

I would really appreciation any guidance that you have to offer! Thanks

toxic_waste

Asus whatever. i don't think 4GB of RAM will make a difference one way or another, honestly. just run XP or Linux.

anyway, this is hardly related to engineering....

Francoidhamilton

I know this isnt totally related to engineering. But maybe someone can tell me what I need to look for when shopping for a laptop. I assume that as an engineering student, I will use my notebook more in class and will need it more for my studies than (for example) students in the humanities.

Francoidhamilton

is there anywhere more appropriate that I could post this question?

misralz

There is a college computers subforum under the College Life forum.

mo24

In my opinion, a laptop is not necessary for an engineering student. Only about 5% of students bring laptops to class, and most of them fool around on them during class rather than use them for anything relevant or useful.

Owning even a desktop computer probably isn't vital to an engineering major, since most campuses have computer labs available for use at all hours... though it is certainly convenient to have one.

RacinReaver

Completely seconding what mo24 said. I had a laptop and hardly ever used it, I found my desktop to be a much more comfortable working environment, and when I needed software that I couldn't use in my room (ie Crystal Maker, TAPP, or a few other materials-specific ones) or when I just wanted to get out of my room, I'd relocate to a cluster somewhere on campus.

A few of my friends liked working in coffee shops, but I found they often made their tables just small enough so you couldn't fit more than one textbook on them at a time, and they were a nightmare for doing any sort of group work.

nshah9617

Thirding (if that is possible), RacinReaver and mo24, I found very little use of my laptop as an engineering student. I never took my laptop to class since paper/pencil notes were always more practical and better for my retention.

In addition, your engineering campus might already have vast computer clusters which are designed for "heavy" engineering computing, something most laptops won't be able to handle. Since chances are that you'll be living at the engineering building, using the free clusters is a much more practical option.

rodney

francoid: very often the school you are attending will be the best resource for your questions (versus the masses on CC).....

If your school does not provide this info, try to find a current engineering student from your school on facebook.....